Chapter 6 – Lucius - Betrayed
It had been a few weeks now since he'd cut his hair in a fit of rage and despair… And Lucius really did regret it. He missed his hair… And it hadn't helped him one bit to cut it off. The other boys still jeered at him, and laughed at his feminine appearance. It seemed nothing he could do would ever be enough.
He was at least thankful that the hairdresser had been able to sort it out, so it didn't look like a bird's nest. It had no particular style, but it was neat, and that was all Lucius could ask for.
But it didn't change his face. His face was still thin, soft features and girlish looks. His eyelashes were still too long… his face too thin… his body too slight.
And he hated himself for it more every day.
But it seemed he could never quite reach the stage of hating himself as much as the other children of the orphanage hated him…
Today was no different…
School was over, and Lucius was back in the orphanage, after the school bullies made him miss the bus again. Therefore, he had to walk the mile and a half back to the orphanage. Thankfully, he'd done this many times before, so he knew his way, but he didn't know what he would do when he moved to secondary school in a few months… it was a completely new place, in another part of the town…
He didn't really care though… He just wanted to go back to his room and rest. Relaxing was out of the question, he couldn't relax in that place, but he could certainly rest.
But he knew he wasn't going to get to rest after all as soon as he stepped into his room…
Someone had been in there. It was a mess. He always made sure it was tidy and perfect before he left, so someone had gone into his room…
The drawers had been tipped everywhere, not that there was a lot to tip… His drawing set, which he rarely used, his journal, which was empty… His father's book! Lucius hurried to dig it out from under the pile of detritus… It seemed to be okay. It had dried relatively well after its soaking, but the pages were more fragile than ever now… He'd left it in that drawer for safe keeping, at the bottom. But someone had rummaged through everything.
He placed the book carefully on the top of the chest of drawers, ignoring the rest of the discarded items, too concerned with checking the rest of the damage. He couldn't think what the intruder had been looking for, because they'd obviously had something in mind…
When Lucius' eyes rested on his bed, he realised, with rising horror, and a sinking sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, what it was…
His mother's ring was gone.
Lucius felt hot tears spring to his eyes as he went over to the bed. The pillow had been tossed aside, and the duvet scrunched. The spot where he kept the ring, tucked neatly under his pillow, was empty.
He used to wear it on a string around his neck, but he got bullied constantly for it, and had decided two years previously that he would stop wearing it, and instead hide it safely away in his room. It obviously hadn't been as safe as he'd thought. Because now it was gone. Someone had come into his room for the sole purpose of taking that ring…
But who? Why?
Could it be those boys that had beat him up and thrown his father's book into the toilet? No… They didn't know he had the ring. They hadn't even known the significance of the book, just thrown it in there thinking it was worthless… No, this attack had been made by someone that knew how precious those items were to Lucius…
Lucius gasped. Seamus! Seamus was the only one who knew the significance of the ring. True, others had seen it, but only Seamus knew that it was Lucius' most precious possession, even more so that his father's book…
Seamus had come to the orphanage two years ago, and was one year Lucius' junior. When he'd first arrived, the only bed available was the other one in Lucius' room. It would be two weeks until another bed was available, so Seamus was to stay with Lucius.
Seamus had been shy, reclusive and scared. His parents had been killed in a car crash many years ago, and he had been living with his grandmother, until she sadly passed away from illness, resulting in his transfer to the orphanage. The new 'family' was large and intimidating, and for much of his life, Seamus had been used to seclusion and small company.
But Lucius had been kind, offering the hand of friendship to his new roommate, even if he was only going to be there for a few weeks. He showed Seamus the ways of the orphanage, and pointed out all the other children. They became good friends, and therefore when Seamus was offered to move to another room, he politely declined, opting instead to stay with Lucius.
Things had seemed to be brightening up for Lucius, and he and his friend shared many secrets and interests. Lucius had, at this point, decided he was going to stop wearing the ring, and on the day he took it off, Seamus had asked what it was. Lucius had explained its background and how much it meant to him, before hiding it safely in one of his drawers.
After a year in the orphanage, Seamus' confidence had grown to such a level that he was speaking freely and happily with the other children. However, as his bonds with the others grew, so did his bond with Lucius begin to weaken, as he became fast friends with some of the other boys.
Eventually, Lucius realised that Seamus had changed… He wasn't the shy, secluded boy that he'd become friends with. He was a boisterous, loud person now, and his friendships with the others lead him to grow a dislike for Lucius' gentle ways and feminine looks.
He only spoke to Lucius when he had to, and if Lucius spoke to him first, he would simply ignore him, consumed in football magazines and other boy-ish pass-times…
Then, seven months ago, Seamus seized his opportunity, and asked to be moved to one of the spare beds in his new best friend, Johnny's room. Lucius rarely saw him anymore, but he didn't want to.
Johnny Hues was a bully, a cruel boy only a month or two younger than Lucius. He'd been at the orphanage for around five years, and ever since he'd arrived he had scorned Lucius, and always wanted to find new ways to hurt him…
Seamus knew how much Lucius loved the ring… and that was why it was gone. Seamus and Johnny had worked together, and finally hit Lucius where it really hurt… His memories of his parents.
Boiling hot tears cascaded down Lucius' face. It had hurt when Seamus had begun to ignore him, and it had hurt even more when he'd asked to be moved… But this was more. This was a betrayal of the utmost pain and cruelty, a betrayal Lucius had never expected from Seamus, who had been his only friend…
A fear nawed at him. Fear of what would happen if he tried to get the ring back. Fear of what would happen to the ring if he didn't… And fear of being alone. A fear of loneliness that he'd never been rid of until Seamus had been his friend, and which was now stronger than ever.
But he knew he couldn't allow them to keep that ring. So he dried his eyes, and marched from his room to find the boys.
Back at last, yes I still exist XD Also, just to clarify, later on it will become apparent that I'm not using English towns et.c lol. It's basically "modern Elibe" just English so I can accurately portray what's going on (as far as I can anyway), so all the places are places from the game :) x